Getting to know the community
It can be worth your time to get to know some of the members of the community. You can do this through the Forums, Coffee House, or even PMs. While you may also get to know members of the community through outside communications tools such as MSN, AIM, YIM, Facebook, MySpace, etc., Roto X cannot be held liable for any communications that occur outside of its server. Remember, it is still not allowed to give out game secrets through these outside communications. Forums The forums can seem overwhelming to a beginner, however they can be extremely helpful. When you start looking through the forums, please note that the topics that have been floated (or have red text) are usually very important. If you have not looked at the thread, or if any new posts have been made to the thread since you last looked at it, the title of the thread will be in bold letter. This is an easy way to identify if any new information is present. Above is part of what you may see when you first click on the Forum link found in you side bar. Boards in red have new messages since you have last viewed that board. In parentheses, the number of new messages is also show. A very nice feature is that you can see the last post made on that board. So, in the example above, the easiest way to view the new message would be to click on the "next time" and simply read the new post. The "Announcements" board will typically contain information from the Admins+ regarding important changes to the game, but it also is a place that you will find many holiday greetings. The "Barter Board" is a good place to look into if you are wanting to buy or sell items. It is also a nice place to inform other players if you have added items to any of the different types of markets. The "Contest and Game Board" is just a fun place to waste time. Please make sure to read the rules before playing any of the games and also make sure that there are no additional rules for the games you chose to play. The "Fan Fiction" board is a good place for those who like to express their creative side through writing short stories. The "Geneeral Talk" board is probably the most important board because it has almost all of the information you would need about playing the game. Browsing the board will greatly help you learn the ins-and-outs of Roto X. The "Help Board" is another great resource for the new Roto because you are able to look through previously asked questions to see if your question has already been answered, and if it has not, then you may post a question yourself. The "Off Topic Discussion" board is a place for any posts that do not apply to any of the other boards. This can include personal stories, opinions about various item, and just about anything else that you can think of that does not directly relate to the game. This is usually a fairly active board and is probably one of the best ways to get to know the other members of the community. The "Roto-X awards" board is used for nomination and voting of awards when that time comes around. There is usually an announcement that says that the nominations/voting are about to start. And finally, the "Zak's Bugs" board is used to report new bugs in the game. Please remember that all bugs must be reported immediately. Not only do they need to be posted on this board, but a support ticket needs to be filed with the Support Center. Once a board is selected, you will see somethinhg similar to the above image. The floated topics will always appear first and be in red text. If there is new information in any thread, the thread name will be in bold writing compared to the others, just as the "Xbox Gamertags" is in the above image. You may also see who started the thread, how many replies have been made to the thread, and the last time the thread was posted to. Finally, if you wish to start a new topic and/or poll on any board, click on the buttons located at the top-right of the page. Once a thread is selected, you can read what has been posted and scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen to see any replies. The defaul for level of replies shown is two (2), but this can be increased up to five (5). To see how to do this, click here. Players may also learn how to add a signature to forum posts at the same link. Coffee House The Coffee House (often referred to as "CH") is Roto's own chat room. All members online may access this. It is yet another great way to meet and get to know your fellow Rotos. To access this, simply click on the "Coffee House" link loacted in the second section of your side bar. It may also be accessed through the "Shopping District" area of the Town Directory. While in the CH, you can change the color of your text by typing "/default color" without the quotes or brackets. When you input the command, it should look like this: /default yellow . If you wish to see how to use commands, type "/commands" and a guide will appear under the list of online users. Always keep in mind that words on the Banned List are not permitted in the CH. Even if an overseer is not present, they reveiw the logs daily and any infractions will be dealt with accordingly. For the banned words, click here, then scroll down to "Communications" sections 2.1.c and 2.1.d. Private Messages These are messages sent directly to other players. They are usually refered to as "PM"s. When you receive a PM, it will automatically show up in your house under the image of your Roto. A nice feature of the game is that when you have a new message, the "Your House" link on the side bar will turn red to let you know to go there. Additionally, if you are in the CH and receive new mail, a red message will appear under the list of online users. You can delete PMs from your house and they will go to the Post Office. The Post Office can be accessed from the side bar or the "Shopping District" area of the Town Directory. The Post Office only holds so many messages depending on your access level, so you may need to clean this out periodicaly. If you do not wish to clean it out and would rather have the messages auto-deleted, please click here for information on how to change this setting. Friends Who does not enjoy having friends? If you feel that you would like to add another player as a friend, you can do so by getting their ID number. To find the ID number, simply look at the number in parentheses after their name on any forum post, CH entry, or PM. Once you have the ID number, go to Your House, scroll down until you see the friends sections in the left column, then click on the "Edit" link. You will then be prompted to enter in the ID of the player you wish to friend. This individual will receive a PM informing them that you added them as a friend. A major benefit to having friends is that they can jump into battle and help you out. This only works if you both are on each other's friends list.